The Gaseous Form Rabbit Hole

 Saturday I ran the second session of Old-School Essentials, in which the group braves the mysterious Mountain (after surviving an old temple). 

A tiny bit of a rabbit hole was formed when, after a party member who had been gassified by a Potion of Gaseous Form, was subsequently the target of a trap which dealt fire damage. The question was....would the gaseous form be subject/vulnerable to the effect?

I ended up making a quick ruling on it, but not before growing increasingly confused as I kept looking for the gaseous form spell and not finding it. The rules were luckily with the Potion of gaseous Form listing, but that didn't mention it's a derivative of Wraithform, which I eventually found out was how the gaseous form was listed in the old days. Who knew! I had no memory of it. 

Anyway, the trip down the rabbit hole went like this:

OSE - can't find the spell, use the potion to adjudicate.

Check Labyrinth Lord Advanced, don't find the spell.

Check 1E Player's Handbook, don't find the spell! What the heck, I remember using this spell in the early days, right?!?!?!

Check 2E Player's Handbook, still can't find the spell! Now I am suspecting I am having a Mandela Effect moment.

Check Player's Handbook 3rd Edition, find the Gaseous Form spell. Okay, so maybe somehow we really never used it except as a potion in 1E/2E? That makes no sense...

Go google it a bit, find the Forgotten Realms Wiki which suggests the spell used to be called Wraithform, referencing the 2E to 3E conversion document. I have no such recollection, but sure....

And sure enough, Wraithform is in OSE and the AD&D 2nd Edition Player's Handbook, but not in the 1E PHB, so I bet it showed up in a later book, or not until AD&D 2E. Admittedly, I ran the most 2nd edition AD&D (far, far more than I ever got to run AD&D 1E) so my memory of the spell being connected to that edition makes sense. But I am stumped at the fact that I do not recall the spell being called Wraithform. 

Anyway, a fun short rabbit hole on old trivia on a D&D spell....